In Plato’s Laws, we read that the object of laws is to make men “who use them happy, and they confer every sort of good.”

“Goods are of two kinds,” Plato says. The human goods (or lesser goods) include health, beauty, strength, and wealth. The divine goods include wisdom, temperance, justice, and courage. And of them all, wisdom is the most divine.

Laws that focus on the divine goods automatically benefit and improve the human goods; however, laws that try to optimize the human goods end up depriving citizens of both.

Is it not the same when it comes to personal development? When one aims to become better, what must one go after? In today’s world, it is the norm to go after what Plato calls the lesser goods.

When someone decides to change their life, the first thing they do is change their diet, eat better, and go to the gym. This makes them healthier and stronger. Then, they change their wardrobe, the way they dress (and wear their makeup), so that they look better and become more attractive. Then, they start a side hustle or build their own business in order to become financially independent.

All of these things are good things, of course, but those who focus on them miss the point. They forget why they are after them. Or worse, they have not thought deeply about why they want these things so badly.

Deep down, we all want to live a meaningful, fulfilling life, and for that, we need to focus on acquiring the divine goods rather than the human goods. Because, as Plato says, “The state which attains the greater, at the same time acquires the less, or, not having the greater, has neither.”

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References:

Plato. Laws. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. Apple Books, 2008.